GROUNDSWELL:Creative Thinkers, Creative Solutions is an arts sector-driven collective to advance the Arts in NSW so that they reflect our culturally diverse society. Groundswell is run by a volunteer committee that meets regularly to discuss current issues and how it can take an active role to influence changes.

Groundswell is delighted to be presenting this important forum at Carriageworks to share and discuss critical issues and new futures in the heart of Redfern. Multicultural Arts Forum 2012 is about coming together to learn from our collective histories, and looking for new and collaborative ways forward to face the challenges that exist now in order to create our future.

Thank you for joining us and we look forward to hearing from everyone throughout the next two days and beyond.

Annalouise Paul (Chair & Founder) is an actor, dancer and choreographer who has worked in theatre, radio, opera, film and television in London, Los Angeles and Australia. Born in Sydney, she trained at Laban Centre, London in contemporary dance and studied flamenco from key maestros in Spain and London. She has danced for Bill T. Jones Co, Aletta Collins, Antonio Vargas and Karole Armitage and commercially for Michael Jackson, Los Angeles Opera, Australian Dance Awards, Sydney Festival and was assistant choreographer on True Lies. Acting credits include Days Of Our Lives, Love My Way and Rennies Landing and numerous commercials in the US and Australia. Annalouise has been creating intercultural dance theatre for over two and half decades, receiving support from Australia Council, Arts NSW, Critical Path and Greater London Arts for her research and development. Her works explore cultural identity and transformation using live music and cultural dance. In 2011, Theatre of Rhythm and Dance was launched with Game On at the Sydney Opera House with Bobby Singh on Indian tabla and contemporary dancer, Miranda Wheen. Annalouise has been awarded a choreographic scholarship at the inaugural American Dance Festival in Henan, China in 2012. She has a long history of working in arts in education developing pilot programs for D.E.T., ConnectEd, Australia Council and is currently working with STARTTS and South Sudanese youth. Groundswell was initiated by Annalouise in 2010 as a sector-driven forum for the advocacy and advancement of multicultural arts practice in NSW.

Extract from guest speakers:

09:45 – 10:15

Keynote Speaker: Senator the Honourable Kate Lundy Minister for Sport; Minister for Multicultural Affairs; Minister for Industry and Innovation; Senator for the Australian Capital Territory

Senator Kate Lundy was first elected to the Senate for the Australian Capital Territory in 1996. Following the 2010 Federal Election, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Citizenship. In February 2011, Kate’s title was updated to Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural affairs. This change followed the launch of The People of Australia policy and the announcement that she would have a renewed focus on multicultural affairs in her role as Parliamentary Secretary assisting the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.

In March 2012, Kate became the Minister for Sport, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation. Prior to the 2010 election, Kate was Chair of the Joint Standing Committee for the National Capital and External Territories, a long-standing member of the Senate Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee and one of the Federal Parliament’s representatives on the Advisory Council of the National Archive of Australia. Kate held many portfolios in Opposition including Information Technology, Sport and Recreation, Manufacturing, Consumer Affairs, Local Government and Health Promotion.

Carole Johnson is a former soloist with NYC’s Eleo Pomare Dance Company and a Juilliard graduate who pioneered dance projects in the USA and Australia. She established NYC’s Dancemobile; was founder of a dance magazine, FEET; and initiated through M.O.D.E. (Modern Organization for Dance Evolvement) The First National Congress of Blacks in Dance -1973 at the University of Illinois, Bloomington Indiana. Recipient of a 1971 NY State Arts Council fellowship, Johnson visited Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ghana studying their dance development and then came in 1972 to Australia with the American Company. Responsible for establishing contemporary dance among Australia’s Indigenous peoples and beginning processes that fuse contemporary dance with Aboriginal traditional dance, she founded NAISDA Dance College (National Aboriginal/Islander Skills Development Association) and Bangarra Dance Theatre. Johnson received an Australia Council Fellowship to collate historical material for writing about the development of Australian Indigenous dance as performance art. She was installed into the Australian Dance Awards’ Hall of Fame in 1999 and in 2003 awarded the Centenary Medal in recognition of service to Australian society and the Indigenous community through dance. Currently, she is working on ShareDance, a concept to create an infrastructure that promotes international cultural exchange projects between artists of marginalized dance cultures.

16:20 – 17:00 Open Sessions

Felix Ching Ching Ho Chinese Theatre in Australia and its future, Emelda Davis Australian South Sea Island hidden communities, Mayu Kanamori , Mentioning the War: How much an artist may explore to create in multicultural Australia , Maria Okunev Opera – the art of multi-culture , Rod Pattenden, Oh My God! Religion, art, controversy and Multi-cultural context. AñA Wojak We are all boat people, all stories of migration are ones of displacement.

Emelda Davis is the inaugural President and founding member of the Australian South Sea Islanders Port Jackson Limited (“ASSI.PJ”) based in Sydney, NSW. In October 2011 Emelda was elected as the main coordinator for the Wantok 2012 inaugural Australian South Sea Islanders National Conference. To deliver a conference of this enormity reflects her diverse expertise, networks and innovative skill capabilities that stem from extensive experience working in Federal and State Government organisations delivering community development initiatives and awareness campaigns. The ASSI.PJ have been recently elected as the interim National Body that will champion the rights for Australian South Sea Islanders.

Black is inclusive reveals the difficult truth behind the struggle to create andmaintain an Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander dance school, becoming one of the most powerful and effective voices for change in Australian history. Producers Bowerbird Films and Onyx Management Group

Emelda Davis As the director for Onyx Management Group since 2004 Emelda has worked consistently and diligently in resourcing Indigenous, South Sea Islander and broader community practitioners to deliver projects on a multitude of national and international platforms producing Film, Television, Sports, Events management, Music and Entertainment projects for grass roots, corporate and private sectors.